My Funny Valentine was written by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart (before there was Rogers and Hammerstein).  It’s from “Babes In Arms,”  a 1937 musical from which the standards “Where or When” and “The Lady is a Tramp” also originated.  The musical was made into a film starring Judy Garland and 19-year-old Mickey Rooney, in 1939, although they cut My Funny Valentine out of the movie.  What were they thinking?

Judy Garland, who should have sung My Funny Valentine in the original film.

This is one of the most common standards of all time, and it seems to transcend jazz. I even found versions of people like model Michelle Pfeifer doing this song (I did NOT put the video up!) What I’ve noticed is that there are quite a few interpretations of the chord changes on this particular tune, and it’s difficult to know what the “real” changes are. The tune is typically done in C minor, but the bridge goes the relative major, in Eb. The form is AABA. However, beyond this the various recordings are very different harmonically.  For this reason, I will cover the changes on several versions, and I also give my own, which are generally from Sarah Vaughan’s version, but contain elements from other recordings.
Two of the most influential recordings are the Miles Davis and the Chet Baker version below. I have included a .pdf with both versions of the changes.

Rogers and Hart

Comparison of Chet and Miles-Chord Changes on My Funny Valentine (.pdf)
My Funny Valentine Comparison

What is the Form of the Tune?  How many bars is My Funny Valentine?

It’s an AABA form, but it’s NOT 32 bars.  The last A has 12 bars, making the tune 36 bars total, similar to All the Things You Are.

.PDF of Changes for Different Keys-Taken Mostly from Sarah Vaughan

These are great changes, and I like to use these when I play this tune.  I especially like the Db13#11 in bar 15!  The play along uses these changes.

My Funny Valentine pdf

My Funny Valentine-C Instruments (.pdf)

My Funny Valentine-Bb Instruments (.pdf)

My Funny Valentine-Eb Instruments (.pdf)

My Funny Valentine Play Along

Videos and Recordings to Check Out

From the album Cookin’ by Miles Davis.

Interestingly, after the solos, the bass player, Paul Chambers, tries to go to the top of the form, but Miles goes to the bridge. Mr. P.C. quickly recovers, and the flub made it onto the classic recording! Very interesting! No one is perfect.

Chet Baker Sings My Funny Valentine

Chris Botti-My Funny Valentine

Ella Fitzgerald

Sarah Vaughan
I love the alternate changes in this one! Very cool.

Etta James

Keith Jarrett-Unbelievable!

Chaka Khan
So, this isn’t jazz, and I normally don’t put things like this up, but interestingly, they’ve done their homework on this one. I can’t believe how much they stole from THE classic recording of this tune! The changes are actually pretty similar to Miles Davis in some places. There are some pretty hip things going on harmonically. I thought it would be interesting for the sake of comparison.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.